Standoff
by Queen of Blank
Summary: 5 people, including House and a member of his team, are held hostage in the hospital. Crossover with Standoff. Rated T because, hey, it is a hostage situation...Chapter 10, Epilogue now up. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

A/N I'm going to attempt the drama again; here's to hoping that this time it's better!

Title: Standoff  
Summary: 5 people, including House and a member of his team, are held hostage in the hospital. Crossover with Standoff. Maybe some relationship between characters.  
Disclaimer: I only play with the characters, and dream of the characters. They all belong repectively to their owners. Well, except for Kimberly and her dad. They're mine: )

On with the story!

--

When Kimberly ran into the hospital to visit her mom, she had no idea what kind of a day was about to happen. She walked through the hallway of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and approached the elevator. Just as she was about to walk in, she glanced behind her and saw a man she thought she wouldn't ever have to see again.

"Dad?" she said turning around, letting the doors to the elevator close. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be 300 feet from Mom, let alone in the same building."

Kimberly's dad, Steve, opened his jacket, revealing a gun that looked like a .38 caliber.

"Dad!" Kimberly exclaimed. "You can't have one of those in here! This is a hospital!"

Steve began to slowly pull the gun out with his right hand. Kimberly opened her eyes wide and began to run full speed down the hallway. She glanced back and saw her dad still had begun to chase her after ditching his jacket. She looked forward and took a sharp turn around a corner almost running into two doctors. She felt her auburn hair whip around the corner at the same time and felt the whiplash as it came around.

The two doctors, Dr. House and Dr. Chase looked oddly at one another, looked at he girl, then turned around and began walking towards the girl. They felt another gust of wind blow past as a man with a gun in his front pocket came running by.

"You run up there," House ordered picking up his cane. "I'll catch up."

Chase nodded and began running toward the two people.

House stopped Nurse Brenda. "Get everyone out. There's a man with a gun chasing a 15-or-so year old looking girl."

Brenda nodded seriously and went over to a group of nurses and spread the information as House continued walking – well, limping – as fast as he could towards the two people.

Kimberly looked back again, noticing there was a blonde man in a lab coat running up just behind her father. And there was also a man with a cane not far behind the both of them. She looked forward and noticed the wall directly in front of her. She didn't have enough time to stop, and her momentum sent her crashing into the wall, falling backwards, hitting her head on the tiled floor. She saw black spots in her vision and then felt nauseous as unconsciousness swallowed her whole.

Meanwhile, Chase and House were directly behind the man, who had slowed down progressively until he was panting and out of breath. House looked forward and saw the girl that had almost run into them earlier, laying on the floor unconscious. The man stopped to catch his breath and House and Chase both ran past him to the unconscious girl on the floor.

"Miss!" Chase yelled near Kimberly's ear. "Wake up. Open your eyes."

A couple seconds later, they heard a gunshot, and a man yell, "You four! Get down on the floor!"

--

So please tell me, should I continue? The other characters of this crossover should be coming in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's chapter 2. Remember to review, and keep telling me what you think. I love constructive criticism. And if this chapter just wasn't good enough, tell me so I can redo it. Anything to make the people happy, though I think I know how I want to end it: using this way.**

There's a big word in this chapter. Well, it's a big word to me. If you don't know what it means, there's a definition at the bottom after the chapter is over.

On with the story!

--

The shot rang off of the ceiling lights, and the four people: Chase, House, Nurse Emily and Nurse Brenda all backed to the wall staring at the gun Steve was holding, and nervously lowered themselves to the floor.

'_If we just keep him happy,' _Chase thought. _'He won't have to use the gun.'_ But Chase knew this was nothing but hopeful thinking.

He brushed his hair out of his eye and looked down at Kimberly, who was waking up. "Ugh," she managed to get out, and then sat up and pushed her hair out of her face, not noticing her dad behind her with the gun. "What happened?" she asked, rubbing her forehead. She stopped when she felt someone grabbing her head from behind.

Steve came up behind her and turned her head around as much as it would go. Kimberly's eyes opened wide when she saw the gun in his hand. She turned her head back around and looked at the 4 people up against the wall, all looking as equally scared. She noted that two of them were the two guys that had been running behind her dad. The other two looked like nurses.

"Dad, why are you doing this?" Kimberly asked nervously.

Steve simply pulled her up by her right arm and pushed her against the wall with the other four people.

"Get down like the rest of them," he said. "Or I'll have to shoot someone." He pointed the gun at the group of hospital employees – or now, his hostages, all making them cower lower in fear.

Kimberly slowly lowered herself to the ground, also, looking up at her dad on the way down with a feeling of disbelief and a look of incredulousness.

--

Outside, a crowd had gathered around, mostly orderlies, doctors and nurses from the first floor, but also a few of the patients who were capable of walking outside (with assistance for most of them). Also among the group of people were all of the clinic patients that had been waiting to see a doctor.

Dr. Cuddy was also among many of the people outside, and she wasn't surprised when Drs. Foreman, Wilson and Cameron ran up to her.

"Have you seen House or Chase, Dr. Cuddy?" Dr. Foreman asked. "We haven't seen them."

"I'm sure they're around; they probably ran to the bar across the street," Cuddy replied.

The three ran off to see if they could find their missing colleagues, when another woman approached Dr. Cuddy.

"My name is Cheryl Carrera. I'm with the FBI. I'm bringing in my two best hostage negotiators to try and get this situation under control, and be dealt with. Their names are Matt Flannery and Emily Lehman. They're on their way over here right now. First things first, I need to know one thing: Do you know how many people are in there?"

Cuddy shrugged. "I really don't know," she said sadly. "I got out as soon as Nurse Brenda told me what was going on. There was a huge crowd of people leaving: some people from the clinic who obviously weren't as sick as they thought they were if they were able to run out as fast as I saw them running. A majority of the people leaving were doctors and nurses who were on the 1st floor during the situation. 2 of my best doctors have gone missing, however. I haven't seen them since I got out, and the rest of their team is out here looking around for them. Do you think they're in there?"

Cheryl thought for a moment, and then looked to her right towards the black Toyota Tundra she drove. There was a fairly sized woman with long brunette hair and a tall, skinny man with dark colored hair walking towards them. "There's Matt and Emily," she said. She waited for them to walk over and introduced everyone. "Matt, Emily: this is Dr. Cuddy. Dr. Cuddy: Matt and Emily."

They shook hands with each other, and then Matt and Emily looked at Cheryl. "So what are we dealing with here?"

Cheryl sighed. "All I know for sure is that there is a man holding his daughter and possibly four hospital personnel hostage. We know he is carrying a gun of some sort, I heard a .38 caliber is what it looked like. That's all the few people I interrogated were able to tell me."

Matt and Emily nodded. "Time to get the party started then," Emily said, making Matt smile. Emily gave Matt an awkward stare, making him blush. She punched him lightly in the shoulder and they walked towards the van.

--

****

Incredulousness – unwilling or unable to believe something.

I needed a synonym for disbelief and this one sounded better than the rest, so I used it, and just decided to put a definition for those who didn't know what it was.

So yes, no? Yea or nay? What'd you think? Please let me know. Just give me a few reviews and I'll get to another chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

So I guess this chapter will have some Chase (however, I only fit it mostly into the beginning :) ) – thanks to a request from Dr. Rebecca Chase. Before I get started, I wanted to take a little time and just give thanks to those who have reviewed so far. No names mentioned, however, because I know it's crucial that I get this chapter out as soon as possible, as not to get people complaining about my not posting as soon as they wish. So you know who you are: thanks!

**And just because I like to brag: My two chapters together have gotten 863 hits as of 1/15/07! Love you guys, but review more!**

**So I finally wrote this because school was cancelled for tomorrow (in SOUTH TEXAS, just outside of San Antonio!) due to snow/sleet/freezing rain. So I decided that it's been long enough, and I'm sure they're ready to jump on top of me and make me write. So I wrote it.**

**--**

Chase put his head down on the floor and let his chin rest on the cold tile. He was tired of lying down on the floor as his small figure was pressing against it. He had been thinking of some possible way of getting out of this mess, without getting harmed. Unfortunately, his thoughts had been proven unsuccessful (by more thoughts of his own).

"Dad?" he heard a voice from beside him say, obstructing his thoughts. He looked over and saw Kimberly looking up towards Steve. ""Why are you doing this?"

Steve stopped his pacing and pivoted on his left foot, letting a squeak echo through the hallway.

"Excuse me, Kimberly? Did you ask me something?" he asked.

Kimberly nodded and began sitting up. "Yeah, Dad. I did ask you something --" She stopped talking when she saw the gun pointing at her. She decided to get back down on the floor and continued talking. "Why are you doing this to these innocent people? What did they do to anger you? It should only be me here; I've never even met them before, yet, they are involved?"

Steve growled angrily and gave a stern look towards Kimberly. "It's not your friends that pissed me off, Kimberly." He pointed at Chase. "Even though the blondie was chasing me, and probably would've knocked me down and called security had you not ran into that wall. Had that happened, I probably would've had to kill him." He paused and then looked at House. "And then that cripple was attempting to catch me, though it wouldn't have been hard to shoot him. And the other two were just around when I told you to get up against the wall. I guess they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He grinned evilly.

Chase looked up towards Steve. "I wasn't going to call anyone had I caught you. Even had she --" he pointed his head towards Kimberly, "not run into that wall."

Steve walked over to Chase and crouched down. He picked up Chase's chin and looked him in the eye. "Unless you're ready to die, I would shut your mouth and let me work this out with my daughter."

Chase gulped and nodded – a small nod, since Steve was still holding up his chin.

Steve dropped Chase's chin and kicked him in the side, then walked back over to where he had been pacing. He opened his mouth to say something, when he heard a faint ring coming from nearby. He walked over to where he heard the ring and saw the phone.

Steve picked the phone up off the hook and pulled it out as far as the cord would go, just long enough so he could see his hostages.

"Yeah," he said into the phone.

"Hey, man. I'm Matt. I just need some details from you, so am I going to get them from you the easy way, or am I going to have to start yelling?" the voice on the other line, Matt, said.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "FBI, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Matt replied. "So let's start off simply. What's your name?"

Steve scowled. "I don't want to talk to no Gd damn FBI. I need to talk to my wife and my daughter alone," he said angrily.

There was a silence on the other line, as Emily was writing on the white board of the demands that had just been made, sort of.

"Alright, now that we're getting some questions answered," Matt said, "how 'bout a name?"

"My name is Steve, and only Steve," Steve said.

Another silence, then Matt said, "Alright Steve, thank you for not making this difficult. So, just out of curiosity, instead of taking people hostage, why didn't you just go visit your wife and daughter at home?"

Steve was getting angry with this interrogation. "Excuse me, Matt, but I doubt you need to be getting into MY personal business," he said, half-yelling.

Matt replied quickly, saying back "and I doubt you need to be ruining those peoples' lives that you're keeping hostage in that hospital."

Steve was taken aback at the response he had just gotten. When no one was talking, Matt asked, "How many people _are_ you holding in there, Steve?"

Steve closed his eyes, and quickly said "five."

Suddenly, Steve walked with the phone over towards the room he had grabbed it from and put it back on the hook, hanging up on Matt.

Kimberly looked nervously at the 4 people sitting around her.

"_This is all my fault,"_ she thought. She put her hand up to her head, which was still throbbing from her collision with the wall. _"That FBI guy on the phone can't get my dad out of this; only I can."_ She lay her head down on the tile and thought for a while longer about how she was possibly going to get out of this mess, then felt herself begin falling asleep. After a couple minutes of trying not to succumb, she fell asleep, while Steve hovered over her like a vulture perched on a power pole watching its prey.

--

Outside

Matt shook his head at his cell phone as he closed it. "He hung up on me," he said unhappily. "All we know is that he wants to see his wife and daughter, that his name is Steve, and that he has 5 hostages. We can't do much off of that."

Emily rubbed Matt's shoulders. "Don't worry, Matt," she said. "We'll try again in a few minutes."

Cheryl nodded and walked over to Dr. Cuddy. "Any word on those missing doctors?" she asked.

Cuddy shook her head sadly. "The only thing I have left to assume is that Dr. Chase and Dr. House are both in there," she replied. "Why did they even have to get involved?" she asked.

Cheryl shook her head and patted Dr. Cuddy's shoulder. "We're going to get them all out. This is just a patient process."

Cuddy nodded, holding back tears, which was becoming increasingly harder the longer she thought about it.

"_I have to stay professional for all of the worried people out here,"_ she thought, looking around at the massive herd of people in the area. She nodded and wiped the single tear that had fallen down her cheek, then stood up and walked over towards Dr. Wilson.

--

So first, I would like to ask (the same question as always): Did y'all like it? If not, please tell me, as I will redo anything you guys don't like. It's all for the readers! If you liked it, please tell me! I love great reviews, especially when they flood my inbox:) So go, hit the little button down there that says "Go!" and review!

**I would now like to take the time to ask you guys to read my other story (my humorous one-shot, A New Cane). I see the occasional extra hit every so often, but the fact that I've gotten twice as many hits in one chapter of this story than of that story just feels weird… So go read it, review if you want!**

**Thanks guys! I'll start the next chapter when I get the chance (which will possibly tomorrow, since SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED!). Until then, review!**

**-- The Queen of Blank**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 is written and posted. Enjoy!**

--

While House had been lying on the floor looking seemingly helpless, he had been thinking of a way to get out of this dilemma. However, he was having a hard time working out the whole, "the man has a gun" problem.

He, unlike Chase, was not going to let his own thoughts ruin his ideas; he just merely had to work around Steve and his gun.

"Chase!" House called in a hushed whisper while Steve was in the other room, banging something against the wall.

Chase looked over and glared.

"What, House? You're going to get someone hurt if Steve catches us talking."

"I have an idea that may get us out of here," House replied, rolling his eyes.

All 4 of the hostages gasped silently, mouths agape, even Kimberly, who had just woken up and had been barely listening to the conversation, as she was doing thinking of her own.

"It's kind of risky, and it will take time to work out, but I think it can get us out of here. I just need time to think it over more."

Chase shook his head nervously.

"_No way will I let House accomplish what I can't," _he thought. _"But this isn't a competition of who can get us out of here first. There are peoples' lives on the lines."_ And yet again, Chase's own thoughts ruined another one of his ideas.

"House, will you just let this play out? I don't want to be responsible for getting any one of us hurt."

Steve came back into the hallway just as Chase uttered the word "hurt."

'You want to get hurt, Blondie?" he asked, pointing his gun at Chase.

Chase closed his eyes tightly, waiting to hear the gunshot and feel the death swallow him whole. When neither the sound nor the feeling came, he opened his eyes and looked up at Steve.

"I'm not going to kill you," Steve said as he walked over, putting the gun in his pocket. He continued walking post his normal spot and stopped directly in front of Chase. "However," he said, picking up his foot, "I will do this." With that, he put his foot down harshly on Chase's head and pushed it down, jamming Chase's nose into the floor. Steve leaned over and warned Chase, "Don't try to talk when I'm around anymore." With that said, he pulled his foot off and walked to his spot. "None of you had better try that, or you'll suffer much worse than him."

House looked up at Steve and simply rolled his eyes. "If you call breaking peoples' noses suffering, then what's worse? Pelting them with marbles?"

"Excuse me Cripple?" Steve said harshly, striding over to House. "You want to suffer too?"

House rolled his eyes again. "Well, with what you consider suffering, it probably wouldn't end up so bad."

Steam coming from his ears, Steve picked up his foot and began to kick House repeatedly with all of his strength. House was getting kicked everywhere, first in the ribs on the right, and then the ribs on the left. Next were the thighs: left, and then right.

Once House had been kicked in his right thigh, he felt himself become dizzy from the pain. He winced, and then felt a sudden terrible pain in his head: Steve had kicked him in the left temple.

It took everything in House not to succumb to the unconsciousness that was attempting to pull him down, deep into its grasp. He was afraid to even blink with the fear that his eyes would not open afterwards. He felt the pain ripple through his body, starting with the head, and ending in his thighs. He saw the black spots in his vision, blocking his peripheral vision, so he couldn't see any of the other hostages.

"_I wish I had a Vicodin,"_ he silently wished.

Everyone lay there, staring at House in awe.

"_I can't believe he's doing this," _everyone had been thinking. _"He's going to get himself killed."_

Steve kneeled over and got directly in House's face. "What do you have to say now, Cripple?" he asked rudely.

House didn't reply; he silently put his head down and welcomed the feel of the cold tile on his throbbing head.

--

Matt and Emily were becoming frustrated. They were having a hard time coming up with something to say to Steve to get some more positive answers out of him, and possibly even get him to come out without harming anyone.

"How do we know he hasn't hurt anyone already?" Matt asked, obviously becoming frustrated.

Cheryl looked towards the doors to the front of the hospital.

"Frank said he hasn't heard any gunshots coming from indoors," she answered.

Matt nodded.

"Does anyone know who this guy's wife or daughter are?" he asked loudly.

A nurse who had been walking past stopped when she heard this sentence.

"I know who the daughter is… and possibly the wife," she said.

Matt perked up and pulled the nurse down into a seat next to him. "How do you know this?"

The nurse smiled, as she was glad to help. "Dr. House warned us before he went off towards Steve that a man was chasing his daughter. When I looked down the hallway, I saw Kimberly, his daughter, running away as fast as possible. Kimberly had been talking to me one day while I was checking in on her mother."

"Checking on? You mean his wife is in the hospital?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. Pretty serious problem she's got too. She's going through an intense clinical depression, and it caused a car accident a few weeks ago."

Matt immediately picked up his cell phone and hit the recall button. The phone rang a couple times when a gruff voice answered.

"Hello?" Steve said.

"Hey Steve, it's Matt again."

Steve growled. "What the hell do you want? I already told you, I don't want to talk to the FBI!" he yelled.

Matt smiled. "Calm down, Steve. Let's discuss this rationally. I know what's wrong with your wife. So if she's in the building with you, why don't you just go up and see her, and take Kimberly with you?"

Steve paused. "How did you find out that my wife was in the hospital?"

"One of her nurses is out here," he replied. There was a silence over the phone. "Steve? Stop doing this and just go see your wife."

Steve shook his head. "You stupid FBI just don't get it. She has a restraining order against me," he said angrily and hung up the phone. "I am not answering that phone anymore," he promised himself out loud.

Matt closed the phone and threw it onto the table. "Damn!" he cursed out loud and pounded his fist on the table. "I don't know how we are going to manage this."

Emily came up behind Matt and massaged his shoulders. "The question we need answered is: Why is there a restraining order?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't know. He keeps hanging up behind me."

Cheryl came up and stood in front of the two. "I guess we're going to have to keep trying then."

--

"_This is so frustrating," _Kimberly thought. _"I have to do something about this. None of these people even deserve to be here. I have to sacrifice myself. No matter what it takes, we will get out of here safely, with no gunshot wounds. Period."_

--

That was chapter 4. If you don't like it, tell me. Maybe I'll fix it. I've already started chapter 5.

**Chapter 5 will flashback to Kimberly's past. What happens during that flashback will be my secret, and no one else will know about it until it's posted. Until then, you can go hit the little "Go!" button and type something to me!**

**-- The Queen of Blank**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yes, this took me awhile to write and post. I apologize, but I don't get as much time to write in class like I used to in the first semester of school. Forgive me. I made it a bit longer than the rest of my chapters too… But it is not that much longer. Enjoy!**

--

Flashback, 3 years ago:

"Dad!" Kimberly screamed from her room. "Help!"

Immediately assuming something was wrong, Steve ran up the stairs as quickly as possible, almost tripping over the fourth stair from the top.

"What is it Kimberly?" he asked nervously as he ran into the room and found Kimberly in the far back left corner of the room pointing at the wall with a look of horror on her face.

Steve followed her pointed finger to the wall and looked for whatever it was she was spazzing out about.

"There's a huge spider on the wall!" Kimberly exclaimed nervously, still doing nothing in her corner but pointing at the wall.

Steve got up close to the wall and looked it over. He eventually found it: a microscopic brown speck on her 9-foot high beige wall.

"Kimberly," Steve said with a sigh. "That so–called spider is smaller than that speck of dust right next to it!" He sighed again and picked up one of Kimberly's flip-flops. He pushed the shoe against the speck, turned around with the shoe still in his hand and said, "You are so helpless." He was smiling. "Just like your mother."

That said, Kimberly smiled. "Am I really that much like Mom? Because I don't see any resemblance between our personalities."

Steve looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of any similarities.

"Well," he started. "There was the spider thing, and then there's the fact that you, unlike me, know when to keep your mouth shut when you're in a bad situation… I guess there's more that I just can't think of. But you're only 12. Let's see you grow up and then we'll definitely find some more."

Kimberly smiled. "Dad?" she asked. "Do you love Mom?"

Steve sat down on the bed and faced Kimberly, and their hazel eyes met when he affectionately replied, "I will love your mom until does us part." He stood up and kissed Kimberly on the forehead. "Just like I love you." With that said, he walked out of her room and back down the stairs to find his wife of 13 years, Carly.

"Hey Carly," he said romantically, but when he received no reply, he ran and caught up with her.

"Carly?" he said in a questionable tone.

Carly turned around and met Steve's chest. She looked up and said in an annoying tone, "What?"

Steve, taken aback at her tone of voice, asked, "What's wrong, dear?" and wrapped his arms around her.

Carly immediately pulled away, giving Steve a dirty look.

"Steve," she said. "We need to talk." She pulled Steve into the living room and sat him down on the couch.

"Look, Carly, if this is about the –"

"Steve," Carly interrupted. "Look: I don't love you anymore."

There was a long moment of silence in the house, except the occasional sound of Kimberly, who was up in her room dancing.

"Wha -?" Steve was speechless. "I – I don't know what to say," he said. "When did this happen?"

Carly shook her head. "It's been a long thing coming, Steve," she replied. "It's like you are my first boyfriend; I loved you at first, but the longer I stayed with you, the more tired of you I got. It's been going downhill for 12 years, ever since Kimberly was born."

"So now you're blaming this on Kimberly?" Steve asked.

"No! Steve, just think about it. You know how it's been going lately. I don't want this anymore."

Steve closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth repeatedly, feeling the oncoming tears behind his eyelids. "No," he said, opening his eyes and allowing the tears to run down his face. "No. Carly, I will always love you. You can't leave."

"I'm so sorry, Steve," Carly said.

Steve wiped the tears from his cheeks. "So that's it then?" he asked.

"I guess so," Carly replied and then walked over to Steve. "I'm also taking Kimberly with me."

Steve stood up angrily, feeling his blood boiling. "If you take her," he warned. "I will hunt you down and take her back, no matter how forcefully it has to go."

"Steve," Carly said in disbelief. "Will you stop making this harder on yourself? I am Kim's mother!"

Steve shook his head. "Carly," he said. "You hardly know a single thing about her. She _hates_ to be called anything but Kimberly. Do you know anything about her? Like, what's her favorite sport?"

"Basketball." _Wrong._

"Favorite color?"

"Orange." _Absolutely not._

"What about her favorite animal?" Steve asked.

"Deer." _Huh?_

"Carly," Steve said with a sigh. "You are absolutely oblivious to the things that Kimberly likes, yet you seem to think you'd be the best parent to have custody of her? You're going to end up living on the streets."

Carly scowled. "This is why you wouldn't be a suitable single parent," she said. "You can't help yourself but get involved in every single situation you have no chance of winning. Kimberly is mine. End of story." Carly walked out of the house and hopped into her car and drove away.

"Kimberly!" Steve called.

Hearing her dad, Kimberly ran down the stairs eagerly. "Yes, Dad?" she said.

"Kimberly, you need to grab some clothes and your toothbrush. We're going to go on a little vacation."

Kimberly smiled hugely. "Where are we going?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know yet. But hurry, we have to beat your mom out of here."

Kimberly eagerly ran up the stairs and grabbed a few shirts, 3 pairs of jeans, a denim skirt, and lastly, she ran into the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush. She stuffed them all into her duffel bag and ran back down the stairs.

"I'm ready Dad!" she said, excited. "Let's get out of here!"

Steve quickly ushered Kimberly out the door and into his black Ford F-150. He backed out of the driveway and pulled away from the house, driving 65 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone.

"I think we're going to try and go to New York, Miss Kimberly," Steve said, glancing over at his daughter. "It's not that far of a drive from Jersey."

Kimberly smiled. "Let's do it!" she said smiling.

--

_1 month later_

Boom!

The noise came from the front door of the apartment, as a man in a police uniform had just kicked it down.

"Police!" the man yelled. "Come out with your hands up!"

Kimberly ran out into the living room to see what the commotion was, and, when she saw a gun pointed at her, almost fainted.

The policeman came up behind her and held her so she wouldn't fall if she did happen to faint.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," he said politely. "Are you Kimberly?"

Kimberly looked at the policeman with wide eyes, and did not respond to his question.

"Here," the policeman said, taking Kimberly over to the couch. "Just take a deep breath." He paused and watched Kimberly. "My name is Officer Parkman," he explained. "Now please answer my question: Are you Kimberly?"

Kimberly slowly nodded, and looked over towards the door where she found Steve standing, watching the scene.

Officer Parkman followed her line of sight and saw Steve in the doorway, and immediately stood up and pointed his gun at him. "Put your hands in the air!" he yelled.

Steve, shocked, put his hands in the air. "What is this about?" he asked innocently. "We haven't done anything wrong."

Officer Parkman rolled his eyes. "Shut up," he said rudely and took a few steps toward him. "Get up against the wall; keep your hands up."

Steve slowly walked up to the wall, and once he hit the wall, there was a sharp pain in his shoulder, as Officer Parkman pulled his arms behind his back.

"You have the right to remain silent," Parkman said while putting handcuffs on Steve's wrists. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you."

Steve sighed.

"Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?" Parkman finished.

"Yes," Steve said to both questions. "Now can you please tell me what I did wrong?"

"Sir, you are being held accountable for kidnapping your daughter – as weird as that sounds."

Steve was enraged. "No!" he yelled, turning around. "She's my daughter too! Carly couldn't take care of her if she tried!"

"Sir!" Parkman yelled, pushing Steve against the wall. "Don't make this harder on yourself!"

Steve sighed.

"Kimberly will be in good hands until this situation is settled out. Until then, you'll be coming with me."

"Dad?" Kimberly asked. "What's going on?"

"Kimberly," Steve said. "I'm going to go with this policeman for awhile. I'll see you soon, alright?" He felt the tears stinging his eyes. "I love you, baby."

Kimberly smiled. "I love you too."

--

_1 month later_

"We rule in favor of Carly Anderson, who will gain full custody of Kimberly. Steve Anderson will spend 1 year in prison on charges of kidnapping."

Court was adjourned.

As Steve walked down the isle, he took one more glance at his daughter and his wife.

"We're getting a divorce, Steve," Carly said.

Steve looked away from Carly and looked directly at Kimberly. "I love you Kimberly," he said for the last time for a long time, and then walked away silently, watching the floor as he was led out of the room.

--

End of Flashback, End of Chapter Review!!! 

**-- The Queen of Blank**


	6. Chapter 6

**So what, did my last chapter suck or something? I didn't get a single review on my last chapter? Jeez, if you guys don't like it, then say something… Don't just not review. But please, don't kill me when you read the end of this chapter. Just contain yourselves for now. I guess I somewhat gave away the fact that something _extremely dramatic_ is about to happen soon! Read and find out, then review! Enjoy!**

**--**

**Back to the Future!**

Kimberly Anderson and Dr. Robert Chase have 2 things in common.

1. They were raised by mothers who, as much as they wished they could have taken care of their child, were terribly mistaken.

Chase's mom had a terrible addiction: an alcohol problem that she wouldn't have lived without, but also died with.

Kimberly's mom began as a good parent after Steve was gone, but it wasn't before she realized that Steve had been right. Carly had nothing in common with Kimberly and she hardly knew anything about her. They rarely talked; it was always quiet dinners and quiet car rides.

As soon as she realized that Steve was right, she sank into a very deep depression. She had mild to severe anxiety attacks and thoughts of suicide. Finally, two years and 9 months after Steve went to jail, she attempted suicide for the first time.

She jumped off of her 12-foot high roof into a cemented slab. But she landed on her feet instead of flipping over and landing on her head like she had originally planned. Her closest neighbor, Cheri had been watching from her second story window, and once she saw Carly jump, called 911 for some assistance.

Within 13 minutes of the initial jump, Carly was being loaded up into the back of an ambulance.

And 2. Both of them wanted to be the person who got everyone out safely, but were having a hard time doing so because their minds would not allow a good idea to hatch without finding another thought that completely destroyed any hope that that plan would succeed.

House on the other hand, was busy making the plan everyone now knew he had, and that he knew was going to be a surefire plan.

"_It will get us out of here unharmed." _He thought. _"But how will Steve get distracted?"_ He went to thinking about that part of the plan.

The nurses, Emily and Brenda, were busy praying to the God they had heard of but weren't sure was listening, or even existed, to please not let them die here, today, in this predicament.

Meanwhile, Steve was trying to think of a way to sway the FBI into allowing him to escape, daughter in tow, without getting shot or arrested.

"_I shouldn't have lied to that guy on the phone,"_ he thought. _"Now they'll only be worried about Carly."_

"This is all Carly's fault," he said out loud. He looked at Kimberly. "If you mom had just let me see you every once in awhile, none of this would probably be happening."

"Dad?" Kimberly said. "What's the point of this? You aren't getting anything accomplished, except you probably just reserved a jail cell for yourself again."

"Kimberly," Steve said and sighed. "You don't get it." He paused. "I'm dying inside without you. I have been for almost 3 years."

"Why else do you think Mom ended up in the hospital, Dad? She tried to kill herself because you were right. We had nothing in common, we never talked, and she stopped trying to raise me like I was being raised when you two were still married. But she wasn't capable, Dad, and it's because you couldn't just deal with the divorce like any other person. You had to bring her spirits down the minute she said she was taking me by telling her she couldn't do it."

"Damn it, Kimberly," Steve said stomping over, an angry look evident on his face. "I think it's time you shut up and listen to me. I still have a gun remember?"

"Excuse me," a voice said to the right of Kimberly.

Steve looked over.

"I don't think that this is the right time for you two to be getting over your family issues," House said.

"Cripple," Steve said. "Why the hell can't you just keep your mouth shut like your friends?"

"Uhm," House said. "First of all, that's Dr. Cripple to you. And second, I don't think anyone has ever seen me keep my mouth shut when I feel I have something to say. Right Chase?"

Chase ignored the comment; he didn't even look over at House. He just kept staring off at the wall on the other side of the room.

House shook his head and scoffed. "Well, he agrees with me anyway."

Steve took one step to the right and kneeled down.

"_Dr. _Cripple," he said nastily. "This is your first and last warning. Shut up or else."

House scoffed. "I've seen worse 'or else's' than what yours was last time."

"Yeah?" Steve said. "Have you seen the part where you get shot and die because you couldn't keep your mouth shut?"

House gulped and put his face back down on the floor, out of things to say for once.

Steve laughed. "That's what I thought," he said and walked over to his chair and sat in it.

--

"Cheryl," Matt called.

Cheryl walked over from her chair by Dr. Cuddy. "Yes?" she said.

"We called Lia and got the dirt on Steve's wife. Full story and everything."

"Well?"

"His wife's name is Carly, and the divorced almost 3 years ago. As soon as Steve found out, he ran away with Kimberly to New York and was busted one month later. Steve went to jail and Carly took full custody of Kimberly. Carly slipped into a depression a month after Steve went to jail. She ended up in the hospital after a failed attempt at suicide, which is the current reason for her hospitalization."

Cheryl waved Dr. Cuddy over. "Does the name Carly Anderson ring a bell to you?" she asked.

Dr. Cuddy shrugged. "There are so many people staying in the hospital, it's impossible to remember everyone's names… I remember a teenage girl named Kimberly Anderson; she ran into me and knocked a bunch of my papers over. She quickly cleaned it up and apologized." She thought. "We got to know each other a little, she talked about her mom being in the hospital, but she never told me what for."

Cheryl nodded. "That is probably the teenager that is in there right now. Matt, can you try to make another call to Steve?"

Matt nodded and picked up his cell phone. He dialed the number he had memorized for the day. The phone rang four times, and right before he was going to hang up, he heard a gruff voice ask, "What?"

"Hey Steve," Matt said. "It's me again. Look, we know about your wife, Steve. And we know that none of this is about seeing your wife either, is it?"

"Nope," was the short response.

"Why do you lie to me about this Steve? You are just making things harder on yourself.

"You know what?" Steve said angrily into the phone. "I'm sick of people telling me to stop making things harder on myself. I'll make things as hard on myself if I want, and there is nothing you can do about that!"

"Steve," Matt said. "Just take a deep breath and relax." He waited a moment before continuing. "What is all of this really about?"

There was no reply for a couple seconds. "Steve?" Matt asked.

Still no reply; then, suddenly, Matt heard a gunshot fire from a distance away from the phone, and the sound of a girl scream.

He quickly hung up the phone and said to the group of people around him. "There has been a gunshot fired," he said and walked away slowly, wiping the gathering sweat off of his forehead.

--

Review to know what happens next! Here's a hint: well, think about it really. I just fired a gunshot! Hold that in until I get reviews this time around, and I'll get that new chapter posted ASAP! I'll even start writing it after Heroes is over!

**So Go! Hit the button and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

"That's it!" Steve yelled. "I have had enough of people telling me to stop making things harder on myself! I will make things as hard on myself as I want to!"

Chase was not listening to this man ramble like the other 4 at the moment. He was busy staring intently at the center of his palm where Steve had fired a bullet, and blood was oozing out from the spot.

"_I guess if I really think about,"_ he thought. _"I saved my life putting my hands in the air when I was scared when he fired that bullet."_

He pushed his thoughts aside and thought about his current medical predicament instead.

"_The blood needs to clot so it can stop bleeding, or else I'll bleed to death," _he thought.

He pulled the sleeve of his lab coat and the gaping wound to catch the blood and assist in the clotting process then he grabbed onto the sleeve and held it there.

Knowing he had this situation as under control as he possibly could've had with the materials he had, he listened to the last of Steve's rant.

"You people aren't going to get out of here very easily unless that guy on the phone can keep his ass out of my business." With that said and done, Steve stomped back into the room where the phone was located, smashed his fist into the wall and put the telephone back on the receiver, and then stood up against the wall and cussed out loud, saying quite a few 4-letter words.

While Steve was still in the other room, House looked over at Chase, who was looking a little more pale than usual, obviously from the sudden loss of blood.

"You all right, Wombat?" House asked.

Chase nodded, swallowing slowly and glanced down at his now red-stained sleeve on his lab coat.

"Yeah," he said. "It's still bleeding, but it should stop soon."

House nodded. "Do you still have the bullet in you?" he asked.

Chase thought, then looked down at his hand and felt around his palm, when he felt the spot: a large 2 cm long mass just to the right of the wound. "Yes," he said. "But the shot was extremely crooked. It's stuck under the skin."

"Do you think you can get it out; it needs to come out before it gets an infection."

Chase sighed and winced at the sudden pain in his hand. "I'll work on it when Steve's not around, but it needs to stop bleeding first because I can't even see anything on my entire palm because of all the blood."

Nurse Emily glanced over. "Here," she said: her first time speaking ever since this started. "One of the patients I was taking lunch to claims that napkins were made by the Devil, so I went ahead and put them back in my pocket." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a white napkin. She put the napkin on Chase's palm and squeezed his hand into a fist. "Hold it that way, but put your hand back in your lab coat so Steve doesn't see it."

Right after Chase tucked his hand back into his lab coat sleeve, Steve walked back out into the area in which they were still stranded.

"Did you miss me?" Steve asked. There was a silence in the room. "Good answer: that was a rhetorical question. So, Blondie how's your hand?"

Chase looked up. "It should be alright in due time. Why the hell do you want to know?"

Steve smirked. "It's a criminal thing – you wouldn't understand." He walked over and looked at Chase closely. "Well, it's definitely bleeding a lot. You look like a little white boy!" This made Steve laugh hysterically and then walk away and sit in his chair.

--

"We all know that if he hurt someone that we are going to have to get in there and do something, right?" Matt asked the group of people. "We can't just sit around and let someone suffer."

Frank Perry nodded. "I was next to the door," he explained. "I heard the shot and the girl scream but I couldn't get enough visual to see if he hit anyone."

Emily sighed. "We can't just run in and shoot him, Matt," she said. "Especially if we don't know for sure whether or not anyone's been hurt. And even if someone was hurt, remember that there are two doctors and two nurses in there with them."

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Matt asked, obviously becoming stressed out with the situation.

Cheryl stood up from her seat and looked toward Dr. Cuddy. "Would you happen to have a map of the hospital with you?" she asked, hopeful that she would say yes.

Dr. Cuddy thought for a second then put her hands in her lab coat pockets. After a few seconds of rummaging, she pulled out two pieces of paper from her right hand pocket.

She unfolded one. "Nope – that's not it," she said out loud. "That's just a cafeteria menu."

She thrust the paper back into her pocket.

"I was showing a visitor around the hospital this morning," she explained while unfolding the second paper. "But I can't remember if I gave him the map or if I kept it."

When the paper was fully unfolded, Cuddy smiled big and handed the paper over to Cheryl, revealing the map of the hospital.

The map was of great importance to the current case now that they knew that they had a way of locating the ways that they could possibly enter.

Emily took out a red marker and put the map on the table they had set up, and then sat down, waiting for a discussion to take place.

"Alright," Matt said, thinking at the same time. "We know that they are just inside the building, not far from the nurse's desk." He pointed to an open area around the desk, which Emily circled. "This must be it, and the only phone near it is right here," he said pointing at the telephone symbol in a room nearby, and Emily circled that also. "That must be where he has to run to in order to answer the phone." He turned to Frank. "Have you tried to look in when I call, because if this map is correct, you should have perfect visibility of Steve when he's going to answer the phone."

Frank shook his head. "I haven't looked at that time. I just kind of glanced over there every so often to see if they had possibly moved into my line of sight. But I haven't seen anything."

Matt nodded, and Emily drew a line on the map, linking the two circles together.

"I think before we do anything drastic," Emily suggested. "We should try to strike a deal." She paused, waiting for an interruption. When there was none, she continued. "We should ask for someone to come out safely, preferably the person who was injured, if any were."

"But what are we going to offer in return?" Cheryl asked, speaking for the rest of the group who were all wondering the same thing.

Everyone sat silently. "Well," he said. "All he wants is to get out with his daughter in tow without getting arrested," Emily said.

"We can't give him exactly what he wants just yet," Matt explained. "We have to do this piece by piece. I'll call him and I'll figure something out. But that something will not be to get out as a free man. Because no matter what, he put people in danger, he threatened these people with their lives, and it's possible that he has already shot, or even killed someone. Being a free man is not something he will have to look forward to."

He took a deep breath and picked up the phone. "I know what I'm going to say," he said while opening his phone. "Get ready for some action."

--

Love you guys, and I love you more when you review! Sorry for hurting Chase! I know: why can't I be nice and just hurt one of the nurses? right? Well, because it's more melodramatic when it's a character we love and care about. And I think shooting House already would've been overkill… Next chapter up as soon as I finish it!

**  
The Queen of Blank**


	8. Chapter 8

So you guys know, this chapter technically should have been up on Wednesday, but I stopped writing it for 2 days because there was scene I did not want to write (which you are about to read). Just thought I should inform you all of that because it just means that there is more drama in this chapter, and a lot more of it. So enjoy my chapter 8!

**--**

_Ring!_ There was that annoying telephone ringing, yet again.

"_When is this guy going to stop trying to get Steve to leave? Obviously, it hasn't worked yet!" _Chase thought, wishing the ringing would stop.

When Steve walked into the other room with the telephone, House looked over at the group.

"It's time," he said. "That FBI guy that keeps calling will be talking to Steve about cutting a deal to get the wounded person out of here so they can seek medical attention. Steve will be arguing with him the entire team."

Everyone nodded in agreement, even Chase, who had just begun cradling his poor, wounded hand.

"But I have a question first," House said. "Chase, wasn't that bullet fired directly at your head?"

Chase nodded glumly. "Yes," he said. "Once I head the gun fire, I put my hands in front of my face because I had no idea where the bullet was going. Once I felt it hit my hand, I knew that he had been aiming to kill me."

Everyone nodded slowly, and then looked back at House, waiting for him to unravel his plan.

"Alright, now here's the plan," House began explaining. "Chase, you are going to run down that hallway just around the corner to my left into a vacant room about halfway down. Check to make sure the room you choose has a window that you can climb out of because once you get in there, I want you to make noise – and a lot of it. Throw things around, slam the door open several times, I don't care. We just need to get Steve away from our only safe way out through the front."

Chase nodded, understanding his role.

"You, teenager," House said to Kimberly. "You will be the person who will allow Chase to know when to get out of the window. Just yell something like –" He put on his best teenage girl accent. "'Like, Dad! Like, why do you have to, like, do this?' but do it loud and like a scream so that Chase can hear you."

Kimberly and Chase both nodded this time, and there was silence. Everyone held their breath when they heard a sudden, "SHUT UP!" come from Steve in the other room.

"We'll run out once he goes into the hallway. Everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded.

"All right, then. Chase: you go now."

Chase stood up slowly and ran on the padded part of his foot into the hallway.

--

"Come on, Steve?" Matt pleaded over the telephone. "Just one injured person? I swear, we will pull everyone back while you do it. There will be no funny business."

Steve shook his head. "Why on Earth do you think I would release the only person who keeps me smiling?" he asked in return.

"Are you saying that you did hurt someone?" Matt asked anxiously.

Steve smiled. "Well, I never said I didn't," he replied.

Matt started saying something in response to his last answer, but Steve pulled the phone off of his ear after hearing a loud crash come from somewhere not too far away, followed by the sound of a door slamming twice.

"Gotta go," Steve said into the phone and then hung up the phone and stormed out of the room angrily, searching for the culprit of his distraction.

He followed the sound of the noise directly past his hostages; he was on a warpath.

Steve was just about to enter into the hallway when he heard someone yell, "Why are you doing this?" really loudly.

He turned around and glared at his daughter, and then suddenly realized that the noise had stopped.

"What the –?" Steve said and then turned back around and ran into the room.

"Go!" House whispered excitedly, and the 4 of them took off for the door, coming closer and closer to their freedom: the freedom they hadn't had in awhile.

Unfortunately, this was taking a bit longer for House, who was obviously lagging behind due to his inability to run like everyone else.

Kimberly, just 10 feet away from the door, glanced back and saw Dr. House. She looked back at the door, then towards Dr. House, not knowing what to do. She looked back behind House and saw her dad running towards them, his gun pointed directly at the handicapped doctor.

"Dad!" she shouted, and started to run back. "No!!!"

But she knew that once she heard the gun crack that he was going to be hit. She dived into the ground, because she wasn't sure whether or not for sure that the bullet was heading directly for House or if it had gone crooked.

Kimberly looked ahead and watched as Dr. House kept helplessly limping along moving as fast as he could, and then suddenly stop with a look of surprise on his face.

Shortly after, he collapsed helplessly to the ground, and Steve stopped running and just stood there with a red face, breathing heavily.

Once Kimberly saw House hit the ground, she stood up while her dad was looking the other way, walked over to House and quietly picked him up.

"_There is only one reason that am capable of doing this,"_ she thought. _"And that is adrenaline._"

She felt herself being pushed forwards by everything in her body; it was all moving at the speed of light, it seemed.

She began running towards the door, however slower than the last time due to the extra weight brought on my Dr. House.

She was getting closer to the door when she heard Steve begin to fire his gun, nonstop, at least 20 bullets.

The bullets had been fired crazily, however, and were not aimed at anything but the two people attempting to escape.

"_5 feet from the door,"_ Kimberly thought, when she felt a sudden pain in the back of her leg, right in her calf. She paused for a moment and then remembered that she was doing this all to save Dr. House and herself. Besides, all of the other bullets had missed and hit the wall; one even hit the nurse's desk.

Every step was now a major hassle, and she had to take smaller steps than were usual, while feeling the blood ooze down the back of her leg and soak through her jeans.

Steve had stopped firing and was just standing in the same spot as he had before, breathing heavily with anger. He began sprinting towards the two full-speed.

Kimberly limped through the pain, adrenaline pushing her the last few steps out into the sunlight where two paramedics and a group of doctors were waiting, as if expecting for someone to come out who was injured. She handed House over to them, glanced at the blood on her hand, assumed that House had been shot somewhere in the back, and then walked a few more feet before collapsing to the ground in pain directly in front of Matt and Dr. Cuddy.

Matt and Cuddy both kneeled over and pulled Kimberly up into a sitting position, and then pushed her up against a wall for support.

"Hey," Matt said. "You must be Kimberly. I'm Matt, the guy from the FBI who's been talking to your dad on the phone."

Kimberly nodded, working hard to keep her eyes open.

Dr. Cuddy thought and looked Kimberly over.

"You all right?" she asked. "Aside from the fact that your dad shot you in the leg?"

Kimberly nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm tired and in pain is all." She paused and looked up at the two. "How is Dr. House?"

"He's in critical condition from what I've heard so far," Dr. Cuddy explained. "The medics are taking him to Princeton General because Steve is still in the building. Now I have a question for you: Where's Dr. Chase, the blonde doctor? He didn't come out with you."

Kimberly opened her eyes wide. "He was the bait, in a way, of Dr. House's plan. He was supposed to have escaped from a window," she explained.

Dr. Cuddy and Matt both shook their heads. "He hasn't come out here yet," Matt explained. "It's just the four of you."

Kimberly gulped. "Someone needs to find him. My dad's on a warpath and if _he_ finds him, he'll be nothing but dead meat."

--

Oops… I think I left you guys in the wrong spot. Well, it works for me because the next chapter may take a bit longer to write because it involves a lot of medical research, not to mention figuring how where on Earth Chase is hiding at! The only reason for the added plot twist is that I feel like I need another 2 or 3 chapters, rather than the one it would've been had Chase not gone missing. So review and maybe I'll get the next chapter up a bit sooner than I'm expecting! So Go! Review!

**The Queen of Blank**


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry it took me so long. I wrote out this chapter before I typed it, and it ended up being 10 1/2 pages long written. So obviously, this will be my longest chapter yet. But what can I say? I had a lot to cover in this chapter. So please, enjoy chapter 9, and review when you're done.

And to clarify: I realize that some of this may be medically inaccurate, but if it is, it was on purpose… Well, some of it may be. I'm not too good at medical terminology or anything involving medicine except what I've seen a million times on House. So please, don't point out my medical errors in your review (unless you want to PM them to me so I can at least learn something out of this experience). Thanks!

**--**

Everyone stood around for a few more minutes waiting to see if Chase was suddenly going to appear from around a corner, but when he never came, they knew a search was in order.

Matt gathered together 3 FBI agents, a policeman and Emily. Dr. Cuddy offered to go, but was politely turned down by Matt.

"It's just not safe," he explained.

Together, the 6 of them walked to the outer edge of the hospital and around the corner.

"I know Steve is still in the building," Matt explained to the group. "I saw him right before we left near the front of the hospital. So he shouldn't be a problem."

The FBI agents and policeman all nodded, and then picked up their guns and walked along around the area calling out Dr. Chase's name.

--

The ride in the ambulance was dragging longer and longer. House remained in critical condition the entire amount of the ride they had gone on the way to Princeton General and had still not regained consciousness.

"His BP is holding steady: it's a very high steady, but it's not getting any higher," the medic, Nick Pedroza, explained to his partner up front. "But his O2 Sats are dropping more and more by the minute. The bullet must've hit the lung on the left side."

An oxygen mask covered House's unmoving nose and mouth, giving him very little relief in his current struggle for life. But unfortunately, that was the only thing holding him steady.

"We're about 4 minutes out," the medic driving said.

Nick nodded and walked over to House's left side. "I never understood why this stuff happens to innocent people, especially doctors, who save other peoples' lives too," he said shaking his head. "I just don't get it."

He looked down at House's face and saw the same thing: no change.

"We're here," the driver said while pulling up into the driveway.

--

"Dr. Chase?" Matt called while he searched though some bushes. He sighed when all he found were leaves and grass. "I don't understand this," he said frustrated. "He couldn't have gone far. Everyone keep searching; I'm going to see if Kimberly knows what's going on."

--

Kimberly was patiently sitting in the back of an ambulance, watching the paramedic, Faith, wrap her leg in bandages.

"We'll have to get the bullet out as soon as we can get you in the hospital. But your condition is not severe enough that we need to get you to Princeton General. Besides, I'm afraid that someone is going to need you for something while this ordeal is still going on. Especially since this ordeal is revolved around you."

Kimberly smiled, and then winced as the pain in her leg radiated up her leg and into her thigh. She grabbed hold of the bandaged part of her leg while her muscles tensed and then relaxed.

"I can give you something to take the edge off," Faith suggested while standing right in front of her.

Kimberly nodded gratefully, and Faith went to work to make Kimberly more comfortable.

She saw Matt walking over and tried to pep herself up as much as possible.

"Hey," Matt said while climbing up into the ambulance. "How are you holding up?"

Kimberly sighed and lay back on the stretcher. "I'm holding," she replied. "But I think she's taking her time taking the edge off of the pain," she complained and winced again as the pain forced itself back up her leg again.

Matt smiled a friendly smile. "You'll be alright, just give her a break. In the meantime, I need to know something about Dr. Chase. Do you know where he was supposed to go after this plan played out?"

Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief as Faith finally pushed the morphine through her IV.

She thought a moment, trying to remember what House had said.

"Dr. Chase was supposed to climb out of a window," she said and felt her eyes beginning to droop. She looked at Faith. "I thought you were just going to take the edge off, not knock me out," she said.

Faith smiled. "I've felt your pain, and I know that you're just downplaying the situation and not telling me how much it really hurts."

Kimberly smiled and closed her eyes. "I don't know much Matt," she said softly. "Except that he is in pain. He got shot in the hand…" Her voice trailed off and she was out cold.

--

"Dr. Gregory House," Nick said while pulling House's stretcher into the Emergency room at Princeton General. "He has been held up in a hostage situation for about 5 hours. He was shot en route to the door. His BP remained high but steady on the ride over, but his O2 Sats are still dropping. Judging by the hole in his back where he was shot, the bullet went into the lung on the right side. But if the bullet is still in the lung, it is the only thing keeping it from collapsing."

The doctors proceeded after the explanation and began attaching multiple wires to House's now exposed chest. The current attending, Dr. Petrelli, stood over his head and called by his ear, "Dr. House!" in attempt to wake him up. When there was still no response, Dr. Petrelli looked over at the monitor.

"He needs to be intubated," he called out. "His O2 Sats are very near being dangerously low."

Dr. Petrelli had House intubated within a matter of minutes.

The pace was quick as the kept moving – they did a chest X-ray only to find what they feared: the bullet was indeed lodged into his left lung.

Dr. Petrelli walked over to the telephone and called the cardiologist on call, Dr. Bennet. After informing him of the situation on hand, he came back to his patient.

A nurse walked into the room about halfway. "Dr. Petrelli," she called. "There are some people in the waiting room who would like to be informed of Dr. House's current condition. They're wearing lab coats."

"Thank you," Dr. Petrelli said. He turned to the other doctors and nurses. "Dr. Bennet is on his way to prep Dr. House for surgery. I will be in the waiting room for now."

He walked out into the waiting room where he was met by 4 people in lab coats.

They introduced themselves.

"I'm Dr. Eric Foreman," he said and shook Dr. Petrelli's hand.

"Dr. James Wilson," and he followed suit.

"Dr. Lisa Cuddy, I'm the dean at PPTH."

"And I'm Dr. Allison Cameron."

With introductions out of the way, Dr. Petrelli showed the group to a quiet corner of the room and instructed them to sit down.

"Dr. House is currently in critical condition in the trauma room right now. He was shot in the back, but the bullet went nowhere near the spinal cord. Instead, the bullet became deeply lodged in his left lung. The bullet is the only thing keeping his lung from collapsing. He is being taken into surgery as we speak with our best cardiologist Dr. Bennet."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to observe things, but I will be back when we're done to fill you in," he finished explaining, and stood up and walked back into the trauma room.

When Dr. Petrelli first looked down at his patient, the first thing he noticed was that his eyes were open and surveying the room.

"How long has been conscious?" he asked.

Dr. Bennet looked up and said from underneath his mask, "He woke up maybe a minute and a half ago. He's quite aware of his situation."

"Well, is he ready for surgery?" Dr. Petrelli asked.

"We were just getting ready to take him now," Dr. Bennet replied, and they all pulled Dr. House to the OR.

--

Matt had rejoined the group in the search for Chase, in which they were still coming up empty-handed.

He was beginning to get extremely frustrated and was almost ready to just call off the search, even though he knew that wasn't a possibility, when he saw something behind one of the bushes with blonde hair. He ran over to the bush and pushed the branches back, revealing a very pale Dr. Chase, passed out with a hand that was still bleeding.

An FBI agent took his walkie-talkie and said, "We found the missing doctor. We are requesting paramedics at the scene to get him to the nearest hospital. He has apparently been suffering from massive blood loss from his hand."

There were words spoken back, and the agent replied with a simple, "Got it."

He nodded to Matt, and within a few minutes, two paramedics were running over pulling along a stretcher and their medical bag.

--

A few minutes after Chase had been taken to the hospital, Kimberly began to slowly wake up.

She opened her eyes slowly and glanced over at Faith, who was looking out towards the front of the hospital.

"What's going on?" she asked, noticing the mass amount of people around the front door.

"Matt got through to your dad," Faith explained. "He called him right after they found Dr. Chase, and Steve was finally willing to give himself up."

Kimberly opened her eyes wide. "Where did they find Dr. Chase?" she asked nervously. "Where is he now?"

"Calm down," Faith said smiling. "Dr. Chase was passed out behind a bush. He was suffering from massive blood loss. He's on the way to Princeton General right now also."

Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Dr. Chase was in good hands. She looked out at the hospital again where she saw people running around frantically, as though something were happening.

She saw the door begin to open slowly and her dad, walking more slowly than the door was opening, walked out of the hospital and stopped right outside the door.

"Throw down your gun!" she heard someone, most likely FBI, yell from the crowd of people.

Steve threw his gun to the cement ground directly in front of Matt, and two policemen rushed in and pushed him against a wall, handcuffs ready.

"My dad is miserable," Kimberly said while watching the policemen walk Steve to their car. "He doesn't think that he could live without me being in his life. He only did this because he thought he would get custody of me when it was over." Tears were forming in her eyes. "He thought I would gain his respect by seeing him take charge of things. But all I have for him is hatred. By shooting me, he crippled me. And now he's going off to jail again. He was wrong."

The tears were flowing freely down her face while she watched the police car drive away, taking the dad she no longer cared for away.

"Let's get you into the ER," Faith said.

Kimberly nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks as 2 medics pulled her out of the ambulance and wheeled her into the hospital at a brisk pace.

--

"Dr. Chase?" Cameron called by the side of the bed in Chase's room in the ICU.

Chase slowly opened his eyes and looked Cameron.

"Where am I?" he asked dazed. He slowly sat up and looked around the room.

Cameron smiled. "You're at Princeton General's ICU," she explained. "You passed out from massive blood loss; it took them awhile to find you from behind that bush. How do you feel?"

Chase lay back slowly and looked at his now freshly bandaged hand.

"I'm alright," he said. "Did they take out the bullet?"

Cameron nodded. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said, while pushing a piece of blonde hair out of his face.

--

Dr. Wilson sat in an uncomfortable chair in House's hospital room, just a few rooms away from Chase. He had fallen asleep twice while waiting for House to wake up, while Cuddy and Foreman had been down in the cafeteria nervously drinking coffee and eating very little food.

He had casually slipped his hand into House's and held tightly, just waiting for him to squeeze back and signal that he was all right.

He was beginning to doze off again when he felt what he had been waiting so long for: a soft squeeze coming from House's hand.

"Greg?" Wilson asked, standing up from the chair. He looked into House's blue eyes as they slowly opened.

House looked like he was going to say something, but instead put a frustrated look on his face as he reached up and felt the tube that had still been down his throat. He also felt the throbbing pain in his left side where they had inserted a chest tube after surgery, since the bullet was out.

"House," Wilson said watching him. "Please don't even try to mess with the tube. The bullet went right into your lung. Breathing on your own is the last thing possible right now. That's why you get a chest tube too."

House closed his eyes, and put his hand back on the bed tiredly. He reopened his eyes and stared into Wilson's brown eyes.

Wilson grabbed hold of House's hand again. "I'm just glad that you're all right," he said and sat back down in the chair as House closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

--

So that's chapter 9. Technically, this is the end of the story. However, because I wanted to finish on a chapter number that could be divided evenly by 5, I decided that an epilogue would be in order, just because I know everyone is curious as to what happens after this ordeal is finally over! But only because I love you guys to death!

**My thanks will come at the end of the last chapter, which should be posted soon, hopefully! So please, review now so I feel more motivated to write the epilogue!**

**The Queen of Blank**


	10. Chapter 10

**So here it is: The epilogue; enjoy!**

The next morning, Kimberly's doctor, Dr. Murphy, and Dr. Cuddy both walked into her room.

"We come bearing two different pieces of good news," Dr. Cuddy explained happily.

Kimberly sat up in bed, curious.

"First," Dr. Murphy began, "Is that you are going to go ahead and be released tonight."

Kimberly smiled excitedly and spurted out a "Yay!"

"And second," Dr. Cuddy explained. "Is that your mom is being released tonight also."

Kimberly's eyes opened wide, and she felt wet tears stinging her eyes.

"She is?" she asked.

Both doctors nodded and smiled at the look of pure excitement on Kimberly's face. But they noticed the look drop when she remembered Doctors Chase and House.

"Wait," she said quickly when they started to turn around. "How are Dr. House and Dr. Chase?"

Dr. Cuddy turned to Dr. Murphy and kindly excused him from the room. After he left, she sat down on the bed and smiled.

"Dr. Chase is doing well," she explained. "They put the blood that he had lost back and he looks so much better. Dr. House is recovering also, but his recovery will take longer due to its severity."

Kimberly smiled. "As long as he's still alive, then I know that I did my part, and that it's okay."

"There's another thing I forgot to tell you… There is a large number of press out there waiting for you. Apparently, you are a hero. The press keeps saying, 'We want the girl who got shot saving that doctor!' Dr. Foreman said there was a lot of press at Princeton General, too."

"Wow," Kimberly said. "I didn't intend to be considered a hero; I just knew that saving Dr. House was the right thing to do. Getting shot – I wasn't expecting that…" she trailed off and lie back down on the bed.

"Just tell them that they have to wait until tonight," she said. "I'm exhausted from yesterday still."

Dr. Cuddy nodded and walked out of the room just as Kimberly fell asleep.

--

Later that night, Kimberly was greeted by her mom, and on her crutches she walked out of the hospital and answered many questions, of course including the questions about her leg and why she risked her life to save Dr. House. She used the same response every time. "I knew that it was the right thing to do."

Afterwards, she and Carly went home and ate their first real dinner at home that they hadn't done in months. They shared some laughs and even some tears and terrible stomach cramps from laughing too hard. Kimberly knew life would go on, and so it did.

--

The night after Kimberly's release, Dr. Chase was released from the hospital shortly after he had gotten fresh bandages on his hand.

He and Dr. Cameron held hands on their way out of the hospital, but of course, she was holding his left hand so she wouldn't cause him any more pain.

Dr. Cuddy had been walking in when they were walking out and stopped for a while while they talked about Chase's coming back to work.

"Whenever you are ready," she said. "Just don't take too long: there are lots of dying people around the hospital."

This made Chase chuckle. "It shouldn't be too long," he said. "It's just a flesh wound."

Dr. Cuddy nodded. "You guys be safe; I'm going to go check in on Dr. House."

Cameron and Chase waved and kept walking until they were out the doors and in Cameron's car, driving towards her house.

And so life went on for Dr. Chase.

--

Dr. House, who was no longer staying in ICU, was finally being released, just one week and two days after having been shot in the lung.

Doctors Cuddy and Wilson walked out of the hospital with him and, when they reached the doors, were amazed at the mass amount of people who were there waiting around with cameras, microphones, etc.

All asked basically the same question," How does it feel to be a hero?"

Dr. House, still weak from his ordeal, simply replied, "Good – it just hurts."

This made the press laugh.

With that, the three doctors pushed through the crowd and got House into the back of the car.

And everybody's lives eventually moved on.

**FIN 2/28/07 12:51 PM (CST)**

I know you guys loved it: so express you love right now with the review button. If you haven't done it yet, now is the perfect time: right at the end! So go, please?

**I'm hoping to start a new story soon, but give me time to get over the depression of having finished a story for once.**

**To my reviewers: **

**You guys are amazing! I wish I could thank each one of you firsthand, but I can't do that. But if I could, I would get down on my knees and just repeat the words "Thank you!" over and over again. You are the people who pushed me through this story, making it my longest (and finished) story ever. So for one last time for this story: THANK YOU!**

**So wait around for a new story sometime… I'll be working on it after today!**

**The Queen of Blank**


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